DH and I indulged in our planned app spree about two weeks ago (one month earlier than planned), but it worked out okay! Our last spree was late December, so it had been 5 months since our latest inquiries and newest accounts.
Me:
Amex SPG -- Instant approval, $7,200 limit.
Citi ThankYou Preferred -- Instant approval, $10,500 limit.
Barclays Arrival -- 7-10-day message. Recon call. Said my history with Barclays was short (opened US Airways 8/12) but approved me with $5,000 limit.
Chase Ink Business -- 7-10-day message. Recon call. Said my history with Chase was short (opened Freedom & CSP 12/12) and my business was too young. Denied.
DH:
Amex PRG -- Instant approval, NPSL.
Amex Gold Delta -- Instant approval, $7,500 limit.
Chase Sapphire Preferred -- Instant approval, $26,200 limit. (Whoa!)
Barclays Arrival -- Instant approval, $12,800 limit.
The 7 new cards have since arrived. 
We'll be using the majority of these for general spending and will PIF every month, but we'll also be making a major purchase next week (~$20K), and we're planning to pay off ~$12K immediately and finance the remaining ~$8K over the next 10 months. Three of our new cards have a 12-month intro 0% APR, so we are going to split up the purchase between those. Here's the plan for that:
$3,045 on my Citi ThankYou Preferred (CL $10,500) -- 29% util
$1,450 on my Barclays Arrival (CL $5,000) -- 29% util
$3,712 on DH's Barclays Arrival (CL $12,800) -- 29% util
This will bring each of these three cards to 29% utilization, and we'll pay off 10% of each balance for the next 10 months (monthly payments of $304.50 to Citi, $145 to my Arrival, and $371.20 to DH's arrival), dropping the util on each by ~3% each month.
What do you guys think of this plan? I'm sure there will be a slight temporary drop in our scores because of the 29% utilization on these cards (as well as the new inquiries and new accounts), but we don't plan to app again until February of 2014, at which point they'll each be down to ~6% util. Any concerns/suggestions?
@greenpang wrote:DH and I indulged in our planned app spree about two weeks ago (one month earlier than planned), but it worked out okay! Our last spree was late December, so it had been 5 months since our latest inquiries and newest accounts.
Me:
Amex SPG -- Instant approval, $7,200 limit.
Citi ThankYou Preferred -- Instant approval, $10,500 limit.
Barclays Arrival -- 7-10-day message. Recon call. Said my history with Barclays was short (opened US Airways 8/12) but approved me with $5,000 limit.
Chase Ink Business -- 7-10-day message. Recon call. Said my history with Chase was short (opened Freedom & CSP 12/12) and my business was too young. Denied.
DH:
Amex PRG -- Instant approval, NPSL.
Amex Gold Delta -- Instant approval, $7,500 limit.
Chase Sapphire Preferred -- Instant approval, $26,200 limit. (Whoa!)
Barclays Arrival -- Instant approval, $12,800 limit.
The 7 new cards have since arrived.
We'll be using the majority of these for general spending and will PIF every month, but we'll also be making a major purchase next week (~$20K), and we're planning to pay off ~$12K immediately and finance the remaining ~$8K over the next 10 months. Three of our new cards have a 12-month intro 0% APR, so we are going to split up the purchase between those. Here's the plan for that:
$3,045 on my Citi ThankYou Preferred (CL $10,500) -- 29% util
$1,450 on my Barclays Arrival (CL $5,000) -- 29% util
$3,712 on DH's Barclays Arrival (CL $12,800) -- 29% util
This will bring each of these three cards to 29% utilization, and we'll pay off 10% of each balance for the next 10 months (monthly payments of $304.50 to Citi, $145 to my Arrival, and $371.20 to DH's arrival), dropping the util on each by ~3% each month.
What do you guys think of this plan? I'm sure there will be a slight temporary drop in our scores because of the 29% utilization on these cards (as well as the new inquiries and new accounts), but we don't plan to app again until February of 2014, at which point they'll each be down to ~6% util. Any concerns/suggestions?
With an approval like that with Chase are you sure you don't want any other chase cards!!?
Congrats and looks like you all got this plan worked out just fine. If that meets bonuses and you don't mind the 3 payments then sure... I would probably stick it all on one for simplifying but I like your monthly break down.
Congrats on your spree. I would say the plan looks solid and if you are not apping for anything in the future - util and CS are not important. What is important is to not spook Barclays with apping for more cc's.
Nice cc's and CL's.
Nice cc's and CL's.
Very Nice!!! Congrats on the app spree!!
You are right you will probably see a drop due to the new accounts and the UTL. That should recover pretty fast. So, IMO if you are not planning any new credit after this you have nothing to worry about. Sounds like a good plan!!
*8/10/13
Very successful spree and your payoff plan sounds solid to me. Congratulations!
Starting Score: 639 (Walmart TU)
I mean more apps in the next 6 mos. keep I mind, that's a YMMV whether or not Barclays will AA. - some have had no problems with them.